Chapter 22

July 6^th, 2023

Chugach Mountains, Alaska

1:00 PM

Mike Chatham always enjoyed being in the pilot's seat of an airplane. His Beechcraft Bonanza was less powerful than his fighter, but flying over the Chugach Mountains was a beautiful view.

To the right and slightly above his plane was another, very similar, flown by Colonel Bob Johnson, USAF Retired. Each aircraft had a family sitting in the passenger area as well. Sightseers from the Lower Forty-Eight.

The Beechcraft Bonanza that Bob was flying had been gone over with kid gloves, much of the work being done at the Birchwood airstrip, not far from Fire Lake, where the planes normally rested.

The plane had been repainted and looked so good now that Mike was threatening to get his done as well. The engine was in pristine shape, or the plane would never have been bought. The interior had lots of work that needed to be done. Much had been done personally by Bob and Liz. Mike and Gloria helped when they could as well. The result was a plane with an interior much like its newer sister.

In Bob's plane, seated to his right, was Liz, his wife. She loved the outdoors and seeing the mountains and glaciers from above, and she brought her camera. In the passenger seats were a couple and their daughter, who was in the front row of the passenger seats. The other was occupied by Allie, Bob and Liz's granddaughter.

In Mike's plane was his daughter Amber, seated in the right seat. A newlywed couple was in the back row, and in front of them were Marcia and Sammy. The little boy had come to help take his mind off the terrors of the Fourth of July, but he wanted his Aunt Marcia along with him. Once Sammy and Marcia were going, Amber wanted to fly with her daddy too.

Sammy and Marcia's seats had been turned around, so they were facing the back, and Sammy was looking out the window beside him. Below them was the surface of Knik Glacier, a wondrous sight, and Marcia asked if he could draw it.

“Yeah,” he said.

She offered him some paper and pencils, and he said, “Later. Home.”

“You like to draw?” asked the new wife sitting across from him.

“You want picture?” he asked.

“Sure,” said the woman, who had said she was an elementary school teacher.

Sammy turned to his aunt and said, “Paper?”

“Whatcha gonna draw?” asked Marica.

Rather than answer, Sammy looked at the couple seated across from him and then down at the paper. He started drawing.

The teacher looked out the window for a little while, then back at Sammy and gasped when she saw what he was doing.

On the paper, a picture was forming showing her and her husband seated together, their hands clasped each other's, and clearly enjoying the flight. Her husband looked and could barely believe it either.

Whether they saw much on their flight was debatable, but they found it amazing what the little boy drew.

By the time they had made a U-turn over the Turnagain Arm and started up the valley, the picture was a high-quality portrait of the two on their honeymoon, enjoying a charter flight.

Sammy looked critically at the picture, then ripped it off the pad and handed it to the woman. "Here. For you."

She looked at it in disbelief, then turned to Marcia. “How?”

“He is just able to do it," she said. "Once he starts, he never has to look at what he's drawing again."

“Have you ever seen if he can remember things from long ago?”

“I’ve never asked, but I suppose he probably can.”

“This is incredible! It looks like a photograph.” She turned to Sammy and said, “Sammy, I will treasure this forever. Thank you!”

“You weccom,” Sammy told her.

It was only a short time before Mike was signaling Birchwood Airstrip, asking to land the plane. He brought it down with barely a bump and slowed to taxi to the usual place to rest the plane.

Bob had already landed and his passengers were getting out of his plane. Sammy gestured for the lady to show the picture to his Grandpa Johnson, and she did. Bob praised his grandson for the picture and said it looked just like the couple, which it did.

The passengers thanked their pilots and left the airstrip. The pilots and the kids and grandkids got into Mike's plane. They then took off to fly to the Willow airport across the Knik arm from where they were. They landed there and went to the cafe at the airport for a late lunch to celebrate their first flights for their charter service.

July 7, 2023

Chatham Farm, Palmer

2:30 PM

Mage and Marcia were working in the farmhouse office when the doorbell rang. Mage wondered who it could be and got up to answer it.

Coleridge and French stood on the step and asked to speak to Bruce. Mage was understandably hesitant, but she knew the two were on, if not friendly terms with Bruce; they were at least civil.

She asked them to come in and sit down in the living room. Mage then asked Marcia to call Bruce and ask him to come to the house, then offered the two visitors some coffee.

They accepted, which she hoped was a good sign. After Marcia returned and sat down as well, Brandy told her hosts that Trish and Brad were planning to go on a date.

“Really?” Marcia said, surprised. “Trish hasn’t said anything about that to me.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if Trish and Brad got together? Chet and my exes hitting it off?”

“I don’t see that happening,” said Brandy. “They just seem too different.”

“You know, they say opposites attract," Marcia responded. "Who knows?”

A few minutes later, Bruce entered the house through the kitchen door. Mage offered the office, but French said that it wouldn't be necessary.

Bruce sat down apprehensively, although there didn't seem to be any animosity from either agent.

“With all the upset in the judicial system," French told Bruce, "It's been time-consuming going through the records of the judges involved in the mess. Brandy discovered something which might be interesting to you, however."

Brandy took over the dialogue. “What we found was… Well, reprehensible is the best word I can come up with. It seems that one of the group figured that the most likely culprit in the murder of any married person is the spouse. While that is true, this… person…." Brandy appeared to be having a hard time controlling her personal feelings and took a few moments before continuing, "He decided that you were guilty, plain and simple. He’s the same one who wanted us to take over the case and see to your arrest and conviction. He was planning on making sure that your conviction happened.”

“We’re both very sore at having been manipulated by this asshole,” French told Bruce, “and we’re very sorry about it.”

“We’ve looked at the evidence against you, and it can be taken to point either way. You obviously loved your wife very much, and that love was reciprocated by all appearances.” Brandy said.

“Would you react badly if she left you?" Coleridge continued. "Sure, but would you kill her? While I don't know you very well, my gut says no, as does everyone else who’s given a character witness for you.”

Bruce looked confused. “I don’t get it. I’ve never seen the ‘good cop / good cop’ routine. What’s going on?”

“Like I said," French reiterated, "We're not happy about being used by these judges. Right now, you're no longer a 'person of interest.'"

“I appreciate it; I really do,” Bruce told them. “But what if I am guilty?”

“Are you?” Brandy asked.

“No!” Bruce quickly said, “But you don’t know that.”

“Actually,” French told him, “we’re trained to read people pretty well, and both of us feel you're innocent. I think it's safe to say we're willing to take that risk."

“Just don't leave the state," Coleridge said, smiling.

“Okay,” Bruce said, standing. “I should get back to work if there’s nothing else.”

“No, that’s about it,” Brandy told him.

He paused at the kitchen door and turned back. He had a smile on his face. “Thanks.” Then he went back outside.

“He wants whoever did this caught,” Mage commented.

“Me too,” French said, “But if there’s one thing I know, Bruce Huff didn’t kill his wife.”

Marcia didn't say anything, but something was bothering her. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was there, gnawing at the edge of her consciousness. She was sure she'd think of it in time.

July 21^st, 2023

Chatham Farm

4:00 PM

“Where are the groomsmen?”

The speaker was the pastor of the church the family attended in Palmer. He would be officiating at the wedding the next day, and everyone was working on making sure everything went smoothly.

“We're here," called Carl. They were seated off to the side, waiting to be directed to their proper places.

“Okay. Let's get everyone to their places and give it a run-through."

The groomsmen and Chet made their way to the start of the aisle and met up with their counterparts. Chet and Mage were the best man and matron of honor, but walking up with Chet and Mage would be Allie. Marcia didn't know how to exclude any of the children from her wedding except for her little brother, Chris. She would have included him if she had a spot for a three-year-old. Carl and Ricci would be next, and then Brad Jenkins and Trish Anderson.

Sammy and Amber would enter right before Marcia. They were to be the ring bearer and the flower girl.

Each of the groom's men (Chet included) was shown how to cup their hands under their counterpart's elbow to help steady them while going up the steps, then the children made their way in.

Lastly, Marcia and Mike made their way slowly down the aisle.

“Okay," the minister said when they reached the front. "I'll ask who gives her away, and you'll respond. Then you'll hand her off to Darryl.”

They went through the motions, and the minister said, "Okay. You can come on up here."

Climbing the steps, Marcia stumbled a bit but wasn't hurt. She went red, however, sure that she'd do the same thing or worse the next day.

“Don’t worry,” the minister said. “Have you ever done any acting in a play or anything?”

“Yes,” Marcia said, nodding.

“If everything goes off without a hitch in a dress rehearsal, I’m always afraid that the production will have problems,” he told her. “Same with weddings. Now we can breathe a sigh of relief. It’ll be fine tomorrow.”

They went through the ceremony and then ran through everything one more time, which did go off without a hitch; then they made their way to behind the duplex where Bruce and Ron Fraiser were bar-b-queuing some pork for a rehearsal dinner, as well as making the rest of the meal. The air around smelled absolutely delicious!

Once the food was ready, the minister said grace, then Marcia and Darryl made their way up to get their food. Everything for the meal was buffet style, and the general consensus was that the food at the reception the next day couldn't possibly compete with the meal the two had made.

“You two should start a restaurant,” Bob told the brothers.

“Well, we like to cook occasionally,” Ron said.

“It can get monotonous cooking day in and day out,” Bruce agreed.

After everyone had their food, Marcia confided to Mage that she was scared she would do something stupid and embarrass herself the next day.

“Now that’s just ridiculous,” Mage told her. “There’s no way you could do anything stupid. You’re way too smart for that.”

“Believe me, Mage,” Marcia replied. “If anyone can do anything stupid, I can.”

Mage sighed. “I seriously doubt it, but you know what?”

“What?” Marcia asked.

“At the end of the day, you and Darryl will be married.”